canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/googleapis.com/google-looker

# Google Looker (Google Cloud core) API

The Looker (Google Cloud core) API manages the lifecycle of Looker instances hosted as a Google Cloud service, including provisioning, restart, import, export, and deletion. It is the control-plane API for Looker on Google Cloud, distinct from Looker's own SDK that handles dashboards, looks, and queries. Operations are long-running, returning operation handles that can be polled or cancelled, and instances are scoped to project locations.

## For AI agents

Provision and manage Looker (Google Cloud core) instance lifecycle: create instances, restart them, export and import configuration, and track long-running operations.

## Scope

Does not handle Looker dashboards, queries, looks, or user content - use for instance provisioning, restart, export, import, and deletion only.

## Capabilities

- Provision and delete Looker instances within a Google Cloud project location
- Restart a running Looker instance to apply configuration changes
- Export instance configuration for backup or migration via the export operation
- Import previously exported configuration into a target instance
- List Looker instances available under a project or location
- Track and cancel long-running provisioning operations through the operations resource

## Use cases

### Looker instance provisioning

Provision Looker (Google Cloud core) instances as part of an infrastructure-as-code workflow, specifying the region, OAuth client credentials, and platform edition. The API returns a long-running operation handle that resolves to the new instance once setup completes, typically taking 30-60 minutes.

Example prompt: Create a Looker instance named bi-prod in projects/acme/locations/europe-west1 with the LOOKER_CORE_STANDARD platform edition and poll the returned operation until done

### Configuration export and migration

Export a Looker instance's configuration to Cloud Storage and import it into another instance to clone environments, migrate between regions, or seed a disaster-recovery instance. The export and import operations are long-running and surface their progress through the operations resource.

Example prompt: Trigger export on instance bi-staging targeting gs://acme-bi-backups/looker/2026-06.tar.gz and wait for the operation to complete

### Lifecycle automation in CI/CD

Automate Looker instance restarts and deletions from a CI/CD pipeline so that ephemeral test environments are torn down on schedule and production instances are restarted for maintenance windows. The operations resource lets pipelines cancel runs that exceed their budget.

Example prompt: Restart instance projects/acme/locations/us-central1/instances/bi-prod and abort if the returned operation has not finished within 20 minutes

### Agent integration via Jentic

AI agents managing Google Cloud analytics estates can use the Looker control-plane API through Jentic to spin up review instances, restart them after configuration changes, or clean up unused instances on a schedule, without holding the underlying OAuth refresh token in their prompt.

Example prompt: List all Looker instances in projects/acme older than 30 days with no recent operations and queue a delete request for each

## Key endpoints

| Method | Path | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| GET | /v1/{+parent}/instances | List Looker instances in a project location |
| DELETE | /v1/{+name} | Delete a Looker instance |
| POST | /v1/{+name}:restart | Restart a Looker instance |
| POST | /v1/{+name}:export | Export instance configuration |
| POST | /v1/{+name}:import | Import instance configuration |
| POST | /v1/{+name}:cancel | Cancel a long-running operation |
| GET | /v1/{+name}/locations | List supported locations |
| GET | /v1/{+name}/operations | List long-running operations |

## Key resources

- **instances** — Create, list, delete, restart, export, and import Looker instances
- **operations** — Track and cancel long-running operations for instance lifecycle calls
- **locations** — Enumerate the Google Cloud locations where Looker can be provisioned

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** Wiring the Looker (Google Cloud core) API by hand means setting up Google OAuth 2.0 with the cloud-platform scope, minting bearer tokens, and polling long-running provisioning operations yourself against the looker.googleapis.com host. Through Jentic you install once, import the Looker (Google Cloud core) API from the API Directory, store the OAuth credential once, and your agent calls it.
- **Permission scoping:** The Looker API puts the instance name in the URL path (/v1/{+name}...), so a rule can pin your agent to one Looker instance: it can list and export for that instance and nothing else. You choose the operations it may call, so destructive ones like instance deletion or restart are not included unless you add them.
- **Credential handling:** Your Google OAuth credential is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'provision a Looker instance' or 'export a Looker instance', and Jentic returns the matching control-plane operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the reference docs.

## Related APIs

- **BigQuery API** — Common data warehouse backend that Looker connects to for modelling and querying
- **Google Analytics Data API** — Programmatic GA4 reporting if you need report data without standing up a BI instance
- **Cloud Dataproc API** — Managed Spark and Hadoop clusters that can feed Looker via shared metastores

## FAQ

### What authentication does the Looker (Google Cloud core) API use?

The control-plane API uses Google OAuth 2.0 with the https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform scope. Through Jentic, the OAuth credentials are held in the encrypted vault and the agent receives only a scoped bearer token, so the refresh token never enters the agent's context.

### Can I provision a Looker instance through this API?

Yes, instances are created as a long-running operation under projects/{project}/locations/{location}/instances. The call returns an operation handle which you poll on /v1/{+name}/operations until the new instance is ready.

### What are the rate limits for the Looker (Google Cloud core) API?

Quotas are managed per Google Cloud project under the Looker API service in the Cloud Console quotas page. Most lifecycle calls are subject to default per-minute and per-day quotas; concurrent long-running operations per project are also capped.

### How do I restart a Looker instance through Jentic?

Search Jentic for restart looker instance, load the operation that maps to /v1/{+name}:restart, and execute with the instance resource path. Jentic injects the OAuth bearer token and returns the long-running operation that you can poll until done.

### Is the Looker (Google Cloud core) API free?

The control-plane API itself does not have separate charges, but Looker (Google Cloud core) instances are billed per platform edition and per active user. See Google Cloud's Looker pricing page for current rates.

### Does this API let me run Looker queries or load dashboards?

No, this is the control-plane API for instance lifecycle only. Running queries, fetching dashboards, and managing looks happen via the in-instance Looker SDK on the running instance, not through this API.

### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the Looker (Google Cloud core) API?

Yes. Because you run Jentic One yourself, your own rules decide which Looker operations and OAuth credential the agent may use. Since the Looker API carries the instance name in the URL path (/v1/{+name}...), you can pin the agent to a single instance and grant only safe calls such as list and export, while withholding destructive ones like instance restart or deletion unless you deliberately add them. The agent can call only the operations you have enabled, and nothing else.